Congratulations to new McNair Scholar Kelly Parke! Kelly was selected by the McNair Scholars’ selection committee on the basis of her passion for research, commitment to attaining a PhD, and overall potential for success in graduate school.
The federally-funded TRIO Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at EWU selects motivated and talented juniors and seniors who are first-generation and low-income college students, and/or from groups underrepresented at the doctoral level to introduce them to academic research and provide them with effective strategies for getting into and graduating from PhD programs.
Kelly is a first-generation undergraduate student at Eastern Washington University pursuing a degree in Anthropology with a minor in Disability Studies. She currently works as an office aide for the History, Anthropology, and Modern Languages department and has maintained a quarterly Dean’s List status since beginning at EWU. Kelly is particularly interested in research related to representations of disability in media and intersectional disabled identities.
For her 2023 Summer Research Internship, Kelly will be working with Dr. Ryan Parrey to research the effects of everyday ableist encounters and how they shape the lives of disabled people. After graduating from Eastern, Kelly plans to continue on to a graduate program related to Disability Studies with an emphasis on disability law and policy.
